Widely popular in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, the show was given one of the highest budgets in BBC history to create detailed spoofs and satires of popular culture, movies, celebrities and art. The duo continue to film holiday specials for the BBC, and both have been successful starring in their own shows.

Meanwhile, French starred in the highly successful sitcom The Vicar of Dibley which received great critical acclaim as well as numerous holiday specials and future airplay, achieving cult status. She also starred in three series of the comedy show Murder Most Horrid. She had a voice over role as Mrs. Beaver in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but more recently she has starred in Jam and Jerusalem, written by Saunders, and Lark Rise to Candleford. For many years she became popular for her appearances in the Terry's Chocolate Orange adverts saying the famous line "It's not Terry's, it's mine!" and is currently the voice of W H Smith and Tesco adverts. She recently released her autobiography Dear Fatty, referring to Saunders, to whom she gave the nickname "Fatty".

In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, the duo were voted among the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. Their last special, 2005's French and Saunders Christmas Celebrity Special, aired on 27 December 2005 on BBC One. In 2006, both Saunders and French announced that their sketch show was now dead, and that they had moved on to more age appropriate material. Their last ever concert, and last ever performing as a duo act, Still Alive tour ran until the end of 2008, and then resumed in Australia in the summer of 2009.

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Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders met in 1978 while attending the Central School of Speech and Drama and began their career to collaborate on several comedy projects. They came to prominence in the early 1980s for performing at the Londonalternative comedy club The Comic Strip, which also gave its name to its eponymous television series and the informal grouping of so-called alternative comedians. French and Saunders were featured on the live comedy album of The Comic Strip recorded by comedy entrepreneur Martin Lewis for his Springtime! label and was released in 1981. The duo made their first mainstream television appearance in the sketch comedy show The Comic Strip Presents..., where they appeared in approximately 30 episodes each as well as writing material for the show.

French and Saunders began to establish themselves in what was referred to as the "underground comedy" scene, along with many other prolific actors and comedians whom they would go on to work with for the next twenty-plus years. In 1983, they starred in an edition of Channel 4's series The Entertainers,[1] and later went on to appear as comedy relief on the weekly music programme The Tube on the same channel, for which French received her honour of being the first person to use the word "blowjob" on British television. In 1985, French and Saunders collaborated on their programme Girls on Top, which they once again wrote and starred in. Co-stars Tracey Ullman and Ruby Wax rounded out a set of four oddball roommates, and the show ran for two years. In 1986, French and Saunders made their first of many appearances on Comic Relief, and they signed a long-term contract with the BBC.

In 1987, French and Saunders created their eponymous sketch show, which has carried over six seasons up until 2007. Their show began humbly, but immediately established its own niche as a spoof on other types of shows. In the first season, it was intentionally set up to look like a low-budget variety show in which the duo were constantly attempting grandiose stunts and often failing miserably. Often a "famous" guest star would be brought on then treated badly. Also featured during this season was a set of geriatric dancers and a bongos/keyboard music duo called Raw Sex, actually long-time collaborators Simon Brint and Rowland Rivron and the vocal talents of Kirsty MacColl.

As their show progressed and ratings skyrocketed, French and Saunders received higher and higher budgets with which to create elaborate parodies of mainstream culture. These ranged anywhere from recreations of films (Thelma & Louise, Misery, Titanic, and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?) to spoofs on popular music artists (Madonna, Bananarama, ABBA and The Corrs being favourites). Certain spoken phrases and sight gags that referenced previously performed sketches (often from years before) were incorporated for loyal fans. In particular there is a running gag suggesting that French and Saunders are unable to accurately affect accents; this first appeared in their spoof of Gone with the Wind when they break their character in the middle of an elaborate and expensive parody to argue about the authenticity of their Southern accent. Saunders goads French to try the accent by saying: "How are you?", and French responds with an interpretation sounding more like a strong Northern Irish accent. Since then, the duo often break character in the middle of elaborate sketches to do an "accent check" and repeat these lines.

The show also contained numerous meta references: an awareness that the viewer was actually watching a parody. Unlike many parodies that are done in a straightforward manner for effect, French and Saunders uses the viewer's awareness of what is going on to further stretch out the joke. For example, in their parody of Peter Jackson's fantasy film epic The Lord of the Rings, an encounter between Frodo and Galadriel are thrown off when Saunders delivers her line: "I have passed the test, and now I will diminish, and go to the West and remain Galadriel", in which French responds: "You will what, sorry?", and Saunders replies: "I will diminish... I don't understand, it's in the book". Other characters that make a recurring appearance are the bald, fat, perverted old men ("Begging for it, she is!"); Star Test (most memorable character is Sonia, played by French: "What car do you drive?" "Brookside"); and Star Pets ("What a lovely dog Lady Fortescue I bet he dos {sic} tricks").

Dawn and Jennifer meet their new producer and sign a contract, unknowingly locking themselves into a six-part series deal.

6.42

2

22 October

Dawn attempts to find the chocolate lime to evoke childhood memories, Jennifer searches porn on the computer and a new director general of the BBC drops round.

5.54

3

29 October

Jennifer has been selected for a royal award, while Dawn is aghast at not being selected, as well as Mark Lamarr's rudeness. Episode one of the series is, apparently, drafted by the pair – albeit hastily.

Under 4.70

4

5 November

Dawn and Jennifer attempt to get funding for a series via the internal BBC process of offers.

Under 5.00

5

12 November

With 5 of the 6 episodes for the new series' soon-approaching deadline; Dawn and Jennifer cut their ideas down to a manageable portion. The episode ends with a guest appearance from Anastacia.

Under 4.83

6

26 November

Episode one of the new series starts filming. Dawn and Jennifer delay production, through a combination of pedanticism and constantly getting lost. The episode ends with the party for the start of the new series.

Due to low ratings, the run was shortened and episodes five and six were edited down together into one show, so this scheduled broadcast was cancelled. Surprisingly, none of the leftover new material (including a Doctor Who parody, their second spoof of the show and also their second never to air) made it into the following Christmas special.[citation needed]

Under 3.91

7

24 December 2007

Episode 7, the final in the series, is an episode dedicated to Christmas (a possible homage to the once famous French and Saunders' Christmas Special).

2000 – Comic Relief Special (Video Only) – The Extras On Doctor Who (unaired extended sketch recorded 13 years previously for series 1 episode 6 and eventually released as a short special as part of the Doctor WhoComic Relief video compilation)

French and Saunders began what was announced as their final tour at Blackpool Opera House on 29 February 2008 in the UK. The first leg of the show concluded in May 2008, before moving to Australia. The tour ended 9 November, in London. Previously they have toured their comedy act / sketch show very rarely, with UK tours in 1990 & 2000. The tour contained a selection of their favourite sketches, as well as new material written specifically for the show. The tour was directed by Hamish McColl, set design by Lez Brotherstone, lighting, video and visual effects by Willie Williams.

Junior and Emma: Public school girls who have been abandoned by their parents and stay at school during the holidays.

Jim & Jim – Dirty Old Men: Whether at the pub, in front of the telly, or trying out for panto, they think they're God's gift to women and sexually harass any woman they meet.

The Fat Women Aristocrats: Living in a country house, they spend their days at the races, drinking whiskey, getting severe injuries and brushing them off as minor incidents. They also insult anybody who interferes in their business.

Madonna: is often mentioned in the shows but infrequently parodied apart from a mockumentary ('In Bed With Madonna') and skits such as Mother Madonna and Muscly Madonna.

Jackie and Leanne: Young women who are drama queens and are obsessed with catalogue shopping. They also put too much effort into organising a wedding or holiday.

Lananeeneenoonoo: are a parody of Bananarama they've done on the show as well as live on Comic Relief.

Elizabethan Women: Two women who are unhygienic and enjoy living a backwards peasant way of life. They either cook disgusting recipes using urine or go to the bar and gossip about the locals.

White Room: usually as themselves (Dawn & Jennifer) in a white living room; Dawn always enters with an outrageous assertion about herself, while Jennifer usually sits on the sofa and makes her feel unwelcome.